Health care providers are frequently required to obtain blood specimens from patients for laboratory testing. In hospital environments, patients are often catheterized when their conditions require them to be bedridden. While present systems allow for nurses and other health care workers to obtain blood specimens from the patient's centrally inserted venal catheter, such systems require the use of syringes and are difficult and potentially dangerous, both to the health care provider and to the patient. The dangers arise from the use of syringes, which can result in accidental needle sticks, and from infections introduced through non-sterile interfaces for obtaining the specimens. The present systems use a rubber membrane on a fixed port of tubing attached to the catheter. This membrane is penetrated with a syringe which is used to withdraw the specimen. The rubber membrane may become contaminated and thereby compromise the specimen or infect the patient. The present invention seeks to eliminate these problems and provide a system that is both safer an easier to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,651, issued to Bennett et al., discloses a urinary catheter system that includes a urinary catheter, a connector and a medical implement which is readily attached to or removed from the connector. When a medical implement such as a collection appliance is attached to the connector, fluid such as urine can flow from the patent and into the collection appliance. Alternatively, when a syringe is attached to the connector, the catheter system may be irrigated to remove debris and other foreign matter, or the syringe may be used to provide medication to the patient. The system is preferably a closed system in which the connector includes a resealable valve which prevents the flow of fluid through the connector if a medical implement is not attached.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,542, issued to Cawood is directed to a flat urinary drainage bag that can be worn by a patient over the abdomen with the bag suspended from a waist-encircling belt is disclosed. The device includes an inlet tube for connection to a urethral catheter and a valve-equipped drain tube that extends downwardly from the bag when the drain tube is used to drain the contents there from. The lower end of the bag is foldable upwardly to position the drain tube in an upwardly-facing raised position against the bag's front wall, and a retaining strap is located across the front wall for holding the drain tube in its raised position. Spot attachments that secure the ends of the strap to the bag's front wall also secure the front and rear walls of the bag together, thereby performing multiple functions of limiting bulging of the bag in use, reducing sloshing of the bag's contents, and securing the retaining strap (and the raised drainage tube) in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,665, issued to Watanabe et al. discloses an antimicrobial device adapted for passage through the drainage port of a urinary drainage container. This invention concerns also a patient-care system comprising, in combination, a urinary drainage container comprising a drainage port for inserting an antimicrobial device into the container, and an antimicrobial delivery device. The antimicrobial device delivers an agent into the container for preventing and eliminating unwanted pathogens inside the container. The invention relates also to a method for preventing and eliminating unwanted pathogens in a urine receiving container by inserting through the drainage exit into the container, a device for delivering an antimicrobial agent in the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,950, issued to Lee discloses a urine drainage bag having an outlet tube housing a microcidal tube is disclosed. The microcidal tube is manufactured from polymeric materials capable of absorbing and releasing antimicrobial substances in a controllable sustained time release mechanism, activated upon contact with droplets of urine, thereby preventing the retrograde migration of infectious organisms into the drainage bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,654, issued to Beecher is directed to an improved female urinary appliance is disclosed. The appliance includes a mouth surrounding a urine-receiving cavity, and a drainage channel. The mouth is adapted to be positioned within the labia folds of the user, in contact with the vestibular tissue around the meatus and held in place by gentle vacuum. A valve is preferably used in combination with the appliance, and includes an inlet and an outlet, for maintaining a pre-selected vacuum condition at the valve inlet and a predetermined pressure condition at the valve outlet is disclosed. In preferred use, the drainage channel is suitable connected in spaced relation to the valve inlet. The valve contains a flow control element adapted to control flow of urine from the cavity. While the mouth is held against the vestibular tissue by gentle vacuum, urine flowing through the appliance and valve entrains gas present in the cavity. In the cavity, a desired vacuum condition is maintained, over time, because the valve includes a semi-permeable membrane adapted to permit air and other gas to diffuse through a portion of the valve and thereby to counteract the effects of entrainment and relieve or maintain the vacuum condition at a predetermined level.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,740, issued to Bates discloses a collection system for body fluids comprising, a receptacle having a collection chamber for retaining the body fluids, a first container having a supply chamber for retaining a bactericide, and a second container having a holding chamber, with the holding chamber being located above a lower portion of the collection chamber, and the supply chamber being located above a lower portion of the holding chamber. The system has a first valve member permitting the passage of bactericide from the supply chamber into the holding chamber, and a second valve member permitting the passage of the bactericide from the holding chamber into the collection chamber.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a system for collection of blood from patients with centrally inserted venal catheters that will prevent the contamination of the blood so that it can be used for laboratory procedures. It is a further objective to provide such a system that will prevent infection of the patient due to procedures used for obtaining the samples. It is a still further objective of the invention to provide the above features without the use of syringes. It is yet a further objective to provide a system that can be used for introducing medication to a patient's blood supply. It is yet another objective to provide a system that can be used for easily culturing blood samples without transferring the sampled blood to another container. Finally, it is an objective of the present invention to provide such a system that is reliable, inexpensive to produce and disposable.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.